


compromise (it has to be someone else)

by WattStalf



Series: soulmates [15]
Category: Baccano!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-23 20:57:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20014696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WattStalf/pseuds/WattStalf
Summary: I can work with that.





	compromise (it has to be someone else)

**Author's Note:**

> this wasnt what i wanted it to be  
> aNYWAY LUA MONTH IS DONE I DID IT YEAY

Ladd never shows Leila the name on his wrist, never mentions it to her, and she never mentions to him if she’s got anything, but, to the end, she never wears long sleeves or tries to cover up with bracelets, and he tries to look without her noticing, from time to time, but never sees anything. He doesn’t tell her that he wakes up one day with a name that doesn’t belong to her, and she’s dead in a few months anyway.

In a way, it all worked out in the end, but like hell he’s ever going to think about it that way. He prefers to just not think about it all. Just like how he doesn’t think about the fact that Who never gets a name on his wrist at all.

~X~

He doesn’t know Lua’s name when he’s initially drawn to her; he just thinks she’s absolutely beautiful and knows that there’s  _ something _ about her that makes him want to approach her, so he does. She isn’t the least bit interested in him, and doesn’t seem the least bit interested in much of anything else.

He doesn’t approach women, usually. There isn’t much point when you’re supposed to know who you’re meant to spend your life with, and he isn’t sure one way or another if he wants to meet the  _ Lua Klein _ spelled out on his skin. So he doesn’t typically approach women one way or another, but this one is special, somehow, for reasons he can’t understand when he notices her and pesters her.

It isn’t until he says outright, “The name’s Ladd,” that he finally gets a reaction out of her, and it is barely a reaction at all. She flinches a little bit, hardly any movement at all, but he’s perceptive and he’s been paying attention to her, and now he wants to know what that reaction is. Usually, he doesn’t get a reaction until after he’s said his last name, and that’s becoming more and more rare as of late.

“What? Got something against my name?” he teases her, and she shakes her head. Damn, he was hoping he could a word or two out of her, or maybe even a full sentence, if he was lucky. She’s a quiet one, that’s for sure.

“Mind sharin’ yours?” he asks, and she shakes her head again. Well, he knows how to take a hint...or he would, if the situation were different. But he’s a little put out at how rude she’s being to him when he hasn’t really  _ done _ anything yet, at least nothing to warrant the cold shoulder, and he wants to know why his first name got a little bit of a reaction out of her, when she’s been so stoic.

He has a fairly good idea, of why and of her name, but he doesn’t want to voice that yet.

“My name is Ladd Russo,” he specifies. This time, she is more prepared, and doesn’t show her surprise  _ as _ much, but he’s more prepared as well, watching her very closely so that he can see the slight way her eyes widen, the way she pulls one of her arms closer to her body.

“You sure are a shy one, aren’t you, Lua Klein?” he asks, with a wide, knowing grin.

“That isn’t my name,” she says, and she lies so convincingly that he almost believes her for a second, and is about to apologize before he catches himself.

“Wow, a whole sentence,” he says with a whistle. “That’s the most you’ve said to me this whole time, isn’t it?” She seems to be back to giving him the silent treatment, and he laughs. “Listen, I know you’re probably thinking if you keep ignoring me, I’ll get the hint and take a hike, right? Well, that’s probably what I  _ should _ do, so I’ll tell ya what: we can make a deal! You show me your wrist, I leave you alone.”

“You won’t,” she replies.

“That’s about as good as admitting that you’ve got my name on it,” he says, pulling up his sleeve so that she can see her own name. “Now it all makes perfect sense, why I couldn’t take my eyes off you and why I just had to come talk to you.”

“I don’t want anything to do with my soul mate,” says Lua, officially acknowledging what it is that they are.

“I always thought the same thing, you know,” he replies, and it’s true. After he lost Leila, knowing how much it hurt even knowing that she  _ wasn’t _ his soul mate, made him never, ever want to meet Lua Klein, even though he checked every day to make sure the name was still present on his wrist. But now that they’re face to face, he can’t bring himself to walk away and forget this has happened. He supposes there really is no escaping from fate.

Lua looks him in the eyes, seeming to take a moment to consider her words before she speaks. “The only thing I care about is making sure that I die.”

Though it isn’t what he was expecting her to say, he doesn’t show his surprise, and doesn’t allow it to phase him. He’s no stranger to death, after all, even if the death of his soul mate is a fear he’s hidden close to his heart for years now. “Suicide?” he asks her.

“No,” she says, “it has to be someone else.”

Despite himself, he starts to grow interested. “I can work with that,” he replies, and now, it looks like Lua might be a little interested herself.

~X~

If she had died before he met her, her name would have disappeared. This is why he checked his wrist so often, to make sure that it was still there. If she had died before her name appeared, would he have gotten a name at all? Ladd is glad that he doesn’t have to find out.

~X~

She doesn’t believe that he’s a seasoned murderer at first, that it’s something of a hobby for him. Though it’s a strange thing to lie about just to pick up a girl, he can see how she might think that. It’s also a mighty bold thing to claim, and might convenient that they have such similar interests. But, just the same as the way he couldn’t help but approach her the moment he saw her, it appears that some things are just meant to be.

She’s curious enough to follow along with him for a little while, at least long enough that he’s able to prove himself to her, and when he sees the look in her eyes the first time she watches him kill someone...that’s when he thinks he starts to fall in love with her, and from that point on, they become nearly inseparable.

The relationship still takes work to build up, and it takes time for two people so opposite to work their lives around one another, but he wants to keep her by his side, now and until the end. Ladd doesn’t necessarily want her to die, in any way, regardless of what she wants; losing his soul mate has always been a fear of his.

But he makes her a promise, telling her that he is going to kill her someday, and that, until then, no one else can. He is the only one who can kill her, he promises, and that is a good enough compromise to buy him some time with her.

Before he has to erase her name from his wrist.

**Author's Note:**

> If you're interested in my writing updates, please follow my fanfiction twitter @WattStalf  
> I'll follow back so long as you don't post anything hateful!


End file.
